Field-induced pair creation in fermionic and bosonic vacua

Using numerical solutions to quantum field theory, the creation of particle-antiparticle pairs from the vacuum due to a strong external localized electric field is explored. It is shown that the presence of an incoming fermion can suppress the creation of fermion-antifermion pairs by the external field, and the consequences of this fact for the so-called Klein paradox are discussed. In contrast to the fermionic system, an incoming boson enhances boson-antiboson creation rates through the process of stimulated emission. It is shown that this leads to an exponentional self-amplification of boson pairs in a supercritical potential well.